Tuesday, September 28, 2010

An Introduction

It seems blasphemous to be eating Velveeta Shells & Cheese on the evening that this endeavor first reared its head, but it’s all we have here at 4 in the morning. I work best at the most spontaneous, ridiculous hours of the day (night, too). So here we are: me and my food blog.

Trials and Tribulations of the Uprooted Cook

I've been crafting my own food adventures since I was tall enough to reach the counter - prior to that, relinquished to banging on pots and pans on the kitchen floor (and still once in a blue moon). I want this blog to be a place to start keeping track of some of those inventions - I ran out of room in my recipe box a long time ago. I remember adding a couple veggies to my mom’s Hamburger Helper to give it more volume and make it (by southern Iowa standards) healthy, years later creating the whole shebang from scratch. It’s not as hard as it sounds. I’ve found that cooking from whole, fresh ingredients and trying new food experiments is rewarding in and of itself. I’m not much a writer, but I hope that my passion for improvisation comes through somehow.

Of course, no single recipe could ever be the best for everyone. Half of the fun is in trying new things and being comfortable with creativity in the kitchen. I’m a bit of a kitchen sink cook anyways, i.e. “everything but the kitchen sink” may go in a recipe depending what’s on hand that day. I'll try to include some of the substitutions and variations I think of along with the recipes, in case anyone is playing along at home.

I draw inspiration from a shelf full of cookbooks, my grandmas’ recipes, friends, Mom’s recipes, friends of friends, magazines, moms and grandmas of friends, largely... the internet. Such a vast source of mostly useless ideas, but if you have the patience to sift through it – it’s a gold mine.

Before we go too far, let me give you a little background.

Boyfriend and I uprooted ourselves to Nevada, he working toward his doctorate, and me along for the ride. He and our housemate eat largely pescatarian diets. An Iowa girl myself (read: meat and potatoes at most every meal), I conformed to make tasty meals for two not-particularly-picky eaters (besides the vegetarian thing) and myself. Never before had I eaten tofu, had I gone weeks on end without beef, had I eaten rice noodles… Every new meal is an adventure and I love that, and I want to share that. There’s so much tasty food to be had.

Accountant by day, creative cook by night. These are my trials and tribulations.